Pages

Tuesday, 1 October 2013

Buying second-hand

When we found out that
I was pregnant, The Grumpy Egyptian and I began planning what we
were going to buy for our little one, but not once did the idea of buying
second-hand come up. That was until we found out how much things for babies
cost! It seems like shops take a cheap item, add the word baby to it
and an extra couple of pounds. Where we were living in Oman, there was quite an
active group on Facebook that allowed parents to sell baby/children items
they no longer needed rather cheaply. However once we moved back to the UK I
struggled to find a similar group in my hometown.

Some of my fave second-hand buys: (L-R) never used sleeping bag from Mama's & Papas, Stacking cubes and Animal Spinner

A Google search found
me a group called Little Pickles Markets who organise markets for parents to sell their good-quality used items. I went along to one
of these a couple of weeks ago in Winchester and despite only taking
£17
ended up with numerous bags of toys, clothes, a musical mobile and
books. To get across how good value this all was, I saw the same musical mobile for sale in a shop for £35… I paid £4 for this one and it looks as good as new.
Aside from the usual stuff, people were also selling
cots, pregnancy pillows, pushchairs, walkers and maternity clothes.

I used to be a bit
funny about going through charity shops as I remember them being musty
places full of granny clothes, but that seems to have changed. A recent rumble
through a couple landed me two Annabel Karmel baby recipe/weaning books, a Baby
Gap coat for winter, a gorgeous puffball skirt that the Mini Grumpy Egyptian is
going to look adorable in, as well as some sound books for 50p! I love wooden toys so much more than modern plastic ones so have snapped a few of those up as well for when MGE gets a bit bigger.

I am certainly going
to be a lot less prudish about buying second-hand now and if anything quite
enjoy searching through stuff for little hidden gems. What has been your best
second-hand find? Any suggestions for other sites to keep an eye out for?

2 comments:

Hi great blog :) I know lots of second hand shops just for children around here so I'm lucky you've listed some great places! I popped over after reading your comment on my blog I have no problem you using the link etc to share on your blog thanks for popping by hope you've checked your detector now hehe x

Hi Hannah, thanks for the reply! I love a bit of second-hand now! Got an old wooden walker today with ABC bricks that I am going to sand down and revarnish for my little one. Or at least that is the plan after I've finished the bunting for her bedroom, read that book I've had by the bed for five months and folded away the mountain of washing! x